Hospital Adaptations to New Models of Primary Care

Since the 1990s, hospitals have acquired primary care networks to ensure sustainability, often growing into health systems with owned primary and specialty care practices. Underperformance of the U.S. primary care system, however, has created opportunities for new primary care market entrants. This study examined how hospitals and health systems may be adapting to a subset of new, primary care market entrants or new primary care models. Primary and secondary data were used to estimate binary logistic regression models that examined the relationship between the number of new primary care models and hospitals’ structural and technical service offerings. Six semi-structured interviews explored whether hospitals were collaborating with new primary care models. In general, the number of new models in a market was not associated with hospitals’ structural or technical service offerings, with one exception, the provision of virtual visits (a technical offering). Qualitative interviews revealed that hospital leaders were taking a cautious approach before partnering with new primary care models.